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Abstract: This study examines the security governance between NATO and the EU. I specifically focus on whether the EU-NATO strategic partnership has led to the institutionalization of complementarity between the two institutions. I empirically scrutinize the NATO-EU strategic partnership in the field of security governance. Then, I question whether Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Intervention Initiative (E2I) have marked a drift away from complementarity. PESCO and the E2I have mostly been considered as a challenge to the U.S.-led Atlantic Alliance. On the contrary, I see such initiatives as an enhancer for implementing better practices of security governance. In the first part of the study, the security governance approach to NATO-EU inter-institutional relations is explained. In the second part, the NATO-EU Strategic Partnership and initiatives for stronger European military capabilities are explored. In the last part of the study, the durability of the NATO-EU strategic partnership is questioned. I come to the conclusion that despite the different approaches to Euro-Atlantic security among the leading actors, such as the U.S., France and Germany, the NATO-EU Strategic Partnership will likely continue with complementarity in security governance between these two institutions.
Abstract: The paper debates the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the relationship between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). It argues that the invasion has changed dramatically Europe’s security landscape, carrying major implications for both organizations and their relationship. After its withdrawal from Afghanistan and deepening frictions between the US and its European allies about burden-sharing, the war instilled a new sense of purpose into NATO, placing renewed emphasis on its core functions of territorial defense and deterrence. However, the war was also a reality check for the EU, raising important questions about the future of the European security architecture, the Union’s role within it, and its relationship with NATO (hereafter also referred to as the Alliance). The aim of this article is to try to answer some of these questions, by providing an initial assessment of the impact of the war on the relationship between NATO and the CSDP, and to sketch out potential avenues for strengthening the EU’s role in transatlantic security. More specifically, the paper will try to answer the following questions: what are the implications of the conflict on the Alliance? How did the war impact on the CSDP and the Union’s aspiration to strategic autonomy? Where is EU-NATO cooperation heading as a result of the war? Will the conflict ramp up cooperation between the two organizations or will European defence efforts be channelled mostly through NATO? Will EU leaders grab the momentum created by the war to further institutional integration also in security and defence and or will the war turn into another missed opportunity to promote a more effective burden-sharing in transatlantic security?
Abstract: The EU, NATO and the Eastern Partnership countries are facing a range of security challenges and risks. Hybrid threats are a permanent feature of today’s security environment and a part of the current EU, NATO, and the Eastern Partnership countries security landscape. In a period of rapid changes in the security environment and external pressures, it is important to intensify cooperation between the EU, NATO, and the Eastern Partnership countries and to make further progress on common collaborative approaches against hybrid threats. The paper focuses on different areas of the EU-NATO cooperation against hybrid threats and argues that shared resilience against shared threats can lead to a better synchronization of efforts in countering hybrid threats. A case study on the Eastern Partnership countries is introduced in this research and is examined in the paper.
Abstract: This article analyses how and when institutional actors can shape overlap with other international organisations. Growing overlap either poses the threat of marginalisation to the incumbent organisation or offers opportunities for cooperation. Institutional actors should therefore be expected to try shape the relations with the overlapping organisation to protect their own. The article theorises that institutional actors can shape overlap if they possess sufficient institutional capacity and face a favourable opportunity structure. Whether institutional actors embrace or resist overlap, in turn, depends on their perception of the nature of the domain expansion of the other international organisation. Relying on 20 interviews with senior officials, the article probes the argument against the case of the growing overlap between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union resulting from the latter’s recent security and defence initiatives. Contrary to most expectations, it finds that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization actors played a consequential role in restructuring the relationship with the European Union.
Abstract: The article informs about Europe's inability to prevent or alleviate the chaos of the departure to have influence the logistics despite European North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members' 20-year involvement in Afghanistan; and European Council President Charles Michel offered scathing criticism of the U.S., noting that Washington's NATO allies showed solidarity by invoking the alliance after 9/11, consultations with European partners on withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Abstract: Organizational overlap is a ubiquitous feature in regional governance. Most studies have focused on member states, demonstrating that overlap enables states differently. We still know little about whether and how overlapping organizations impact international bureaucracies and how this shapes the relationship between bureaucratic actors within organizations. We argue that overlap can empower international bureaucrats, but not equally. Those with autonomous resources from member states are the most attractive interlocuters for bureaucrats from other organizations and, hence, likely to become most empowered. Substantive expertise and formal competence are less consequential in this context. We unpack this argument by looking at a policy domain understood to be heavily guarded by member states, security and defence policy. Based on primary documents and interviews, we show that the European Union (EU)–North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) overlap has enabled the European Commission to leverage its position within the EU to its advantage and further encroach on the EU's security and defence activities.
Abstract: The paper analyses the Concept Development and Experimentation (CD&E) approach which has been developed and implemented in NATO over the last 20 years. NATO’s CD&E approach is explained as an organisational innovation and institutional response to external and internal pressures. Within the theoretical framing of institutional isomorphism, the paper analyses the adoption of CD&E in the European Union’s (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The research hypothesis is that the EU will adopt and apply NATO’s CD&E approach in the EU’s defence planning and capability development process. The empirical findings from the analysis of the EU policy practice, however, show that CD&E has actually been adopted from NATO and applied by the EU to a very limited extent. The low degree of isomorphism between NATO and the EU with regard to applying CD&E is explained by a complex set of factors. The research results have broader implications, suggesting that under the current institutional settings it is highly unlikely CD&E to be adopted by other international organisations in the field of international security.
Abstract: Тhis article compares and contrasts macro- and micro-foundational explanations about disinformation and resilience in Europe as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine. It presents micro-level data about the shifting public opinion in Europe after Russia’s invasion in Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022 on the topics of NATO and EU support and favorability, sympathy for Ukraine and condemnation of Russia, including support for sanctions against Moscow (Pew Research Center 2021, 2022). The study compares and contrasts traditional macro-level analytical frameworks such as deterrence, institutionalization and adaptation. I argue that a combination of macro- (or institutional) and micro-level factors (associated with the idiosyncrasies of the domestic public opinion) best explain the shifting attitudes since the beginning of the War in Ukraine. Against the backdrop of NATO and the EU’s increased resilience, a new group or sub-club of “vulnerable” allies has emerged among some central and east European nations. The article evaluates different constraints and vulnerabilities and makes recommendations how to reduce misinformation and contestation in these states.
Abstract: Institutional trust is trust in state’s institutions and organizations. Institutional trust also involves trust towards international and intergovernmental organizations such as the UN, the EU and NATO. Institutional trust includes citizens’ trust towards the national security apparatus or security providing organizations such as NATO. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine is a major event with wide-ranging momentous political, economic and strategic ramifications. The latter affect European states’ security and defence. Such important events impact citizens’ risk-perceptions (in)security sentiments and hence their trust towards institutions assigned with the task of providing security. The paper examines how the Russian invasion has affected European citizens’ trust towards NATO. To probe into the issue, it uses data from two Eurobarometer surveys. A survey that took place just before the invasion in January and February 2022 and a survey that took place in June and July. A similar to regression discontinuity empirical setup is adopted to examine how European citizens’ trust towards NATO was impacted by the invasion. The empirical findings reported herein are not uniform across all EU member-countries and indicate noteworthy differences on trust towards NATO as a result of the Russian invasion. Nonetheless, on balance, a statistically significant effect is traced by the estimated regressions.
Abstract: How strong is public support for Ukraine in Europe? Given reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be ‘playing for time’ in the hopes that weary publics will demand an end to supporting Ukraine, this is an important question. • In February 2023, we conducted a survey of public attitudes in ten major European countries: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Italy and Spain. • Our findings suggest that Europeans are (almost) unanimous in blaming Russia for the war and strongly in favour of standing by Ukraine in its war effort. • Only minorities of respondents are of the opinion that Ukraine should be urged to accept territorial losses that could help end the war, or that economic sanctions against Russia should be lifted. Even in countries where support for Ukraine is lower (Hungary and Italy), or among more sceptical groups, we typically find a majority or plurality on Ukraine's side (or, at worst, we find only a small majority are pro-Russia). • Regarding NATO, there is no widespread appetite for increasing its presence in eastern Europe (except in Poland and Estonia), and even less support for Ukraine joining the alliance. At least in the eyes of the public, fighting a war in Ukraine is perceived as a goal in itself that does not necessarily elicit broader changes to existing security alliances like NATO. • Looking ahead, if the gap between the expectations audiences had for the Ukrainian counter-offensive and what it actually delivers is too great, we would expect public support for Ukraine in the conflict to weaken overall. • If governments wish to keep support levels high, we recommend targeting communications to reach groups we have found to be less supportive. This could include utilizing non-traditional media platforms to reach younger audiences, or members of populist right-wing groups.
Abstract: Since its accession to the EU, the UK has played an important role in the design and development of the EU’s foreign, security and defence policy. While it is among the founding members of NATO, it is also one of the main contributors to European security and played an active part in developing the relationship between both organisations. With the UK’s decision to leave the EU, questions concerning the implications of Brexit on EU–NATO cooperation arise. As the transatlantic bridge between the two organisations, Britain also faces an uncertain position within the European security architecture. It therefore needs to redefine its relations with the EU and its own position among other member states. This article develops three possible scenarios that may occur for the EU-NATO relationship depending on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.
Abstract: In this paper we argue that free riding within NATO should be assessed from a microeconomic point of view. In particular, nations with a communist background should be appraised in a much broader perspective than the 2% GDP spending target, or number of soldiers on deployment. In comparison with post-Soviet countries such as Lithuania, wealthy post-communist country such as Czechia where defence institution experienced an extensive militarisation of society and economy in the Soviet style, continues to fail in reducing their military-administrative complexes, as well as maintaining an excessive structure of militarised civilian activities; e.g., sport clubs, folkloric choirs, medical and educational facilities, established for purpose of autonomy from civil society. Hence, increasing defence spending to 2% GDP can have the effect of strengthening this structure when weak defence institutions are not able to manage their entire defence budget to achieve military modernisation, as has happened in Czechia.
Abstract: Scholars have identified the important roles personal characteristics — such as religion, gender, and race — play in influencing policymakers' position-taking behavior. One important yet overlooked personal characteristic is generation. This personal characteristic is not only influencing individual policymakers’ position-taking behavior; it is also changing some important political realities across Europe. An illustrative example of these changes is Finland's decision to join NATO. Based on documentary analyses of parliamentary speeches and personal interviews with Finnish officials, this article demonstrates that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine revealed already established, generation-based cleavages among MPs whose parties had long opposed the prospect of joining NATO. The speeches also reveal a dynamic and evolving orientation to the Baltic states among an emerging political cohort of Finnish MPs, who have been socialized in a fully EU-integrated Finland.
Abstract: In 2022, Finland applied for NATO membership as a reaction to Russia's attack on Ukraine with full parliamentary support. The Marin government pushed through reforms, which in the autumn got contested. Frictions emerged within the government in anticipation of the general election in 2023. In January 2022, the first regional elections were held, with victory to the opposition party National Coalition. One of the traditional ruling parties, Centre, demonstrated its appeal, despite falling support nationwide. PM Sanna Marin's Social Democrats became second. Finland received much attention abroad due to the war and NATO membership application, but PM Marin's party videos also made headlines worldwide. In Finnish politics and society, attention was shifted overnight from the COVID‐19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine and what the effects of the drastically changing relations to the neighbouring Russia would be.
Abstract: Euro-Atlantic security has always been a priority for the North Atlantic Alliance, especially at the beginning of the 21st century, when mankind is facing a complex, dynamic and unpredictable security environment, one of profound economic and social imbalances. The conflict in Ukraine is and will remain a hot topic of the utmost interest, due to its political-military and economic-social implications, both regionally and internationally. For some years now, the entire Black Sea region has been boiling over from a geostrategic point of view, thus becoming Europe's new powder keg. Romania is deeply interested in a stable, democratic Black Sea region, closely linked to Euro-Atlantic structures.
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